Patent classifications
G01M11/081
SHAPED REFLECTOR FOR COAXIAL ILLUMINATION OF NON-NORMAL SURFACES
A microscope may receive a fiber optic connector via a connector adapter of the microscope, wherein the connector adapter includes an opening and a shaped reflective surface surrounding the opening. The microscope may align a ferrule of the fiber optic connector with the opening of the connector adapter of the microscope, wherein the ferrule includes a ferrule chamfer or a ferrule radius. The microscope may transmit direct light onto the shaped reflective surface and may receive reflected light from the ferrule chamfer or the ferrule radius and with a camera of the microscope.
ARTICULATED NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING DEVICE HAVING A PLURALITY OF ACTUATION SYSTEMS AND A METHOD OF ARTICULATING THE DEVICE
A non-destructive testing device includes a tubular housing including a proximal end and a distal end. A conduit section is arranged at the proximal end, and a bendable articulation section secured to the conduit section and arranged at the distal end. A plurality of actuation systems each includes a control cable extending along the tubular housing and arranged at a respective circumferential position within the bendable articulation section, and an actuator disposed at the proximal end of the tubular housing and secured to the control cable.
BORESCOPE FOR OPTICALLY INSPECTING GAS TURBINES
A borescope is for optically inspecting gas turbines of aircraft engines. The borescope having an electronic image capture unit as a borescope objective at an end of a shaft, which is suitable for insertion into a borescope opening and configured for accurate positioning of the borescope objective relative to the borescope opening and through which data lines and supply lines for the image capture unit are guided. The image capture unit has: two spaced apart image capture sensors, recording cones of which overlap in a specified recording plane forming a recording region, in such a way that image data of the two image capture sensors are configured to be processed into 3-D data by way of triangulation.
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR INSPECTING HARD-TO-REACH COMPONENTS
A method uses a flexible endoscope to inspect one or more hard-to-reach components of a gas turbine. The flexible endoscope has at least one image capture unit, which is configured to capture visual image information and associated 3D data, and which is located at a free end of the flexible endoscope. The method includes: introducing the flexible endoscope through an inspection opening; capturing the visual image information and the associated 3D data by the at least one image capture unit; comparing the captured 3D data to a 3D model of a component to be examined, and based on the comparison, ascertaining a relative pose of the at least one image capture unit in relation to the component; and texturing the 3D model with the visual image information captured by the at least one image capture unit, in accordance with the ascertained relative pose of the image capture unit.
OPTICAL TIME OF ARRIVAL AIRFOIL MEASUREMENT PROBE
An optical probe includes an optical housing, a transmitting lens and a receiving lens. The optical housing extends from a proximate end to an opposing distal end. The transmitting lens is disposed at the distal end and is configured to output a first transmitted signal beams having a first transmission axis and a second transmitted beam having a second transmission axis that is different from the first transmission axis. The receiving lens is disposed at the distal end and configured to receive the first and second reflected signal beams corresponding respectively to the first and second transmitted signal beams. The optical housing has formed therein a transmitting optical channel configured to communicate an input optical signal from the proximate end to the transmitting lens. A receiving optical channel separated from the transmitting optical channel communicates the first and second reflected signal beams to the proximate end.
System and method for rocket engine health monitoring using digital image correlation (DIC)
Embodiments described herein may be applied to monitoring and evaluating rocket engine and other reusable components' health by tracking full-field stochastic patterns using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) to detect deformation. In particular, rocket engine cylindricity enables pre-flight and post-flight non-destructive inspection utilizing a turntable to detect local fatigue. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a rocket engine may undergo a DIC process, where the rocket engine is rotated via a turntable. Accordingly, the use of a turntable allows a single camera DIC setup to acquire data indicative surface measurements about the entire rocket engine. The rocket engine may then be flown and subsequently recovered. After recovery, the rocket engine again may undergo DIC processing, where the rocket engine is rotated via the turntable. The pre- and post-flight data may be compared to provide evidence of the existence of a deformation or lack thereof.
Articulated non-destructive testing device having a plurality of actuation systems and a method of articulating the device
A non-destructive testing device includes a tubular housing including a proximal end and a distal end. A conduit section is arranged at the proximal end, and a bendable articulation section secured to the conduit section and arranged at the distal end. A plurality of actuation systems each includes a control cable extending along the tubular housing and arranged at a respective circumferential position within the bendable articulation section, and an actuator disposed at the proximal end of the tubular housing and secured to the control cable.
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TESTING STRUCTURE MODE OF VIBRATION BASED ON DIGITAL IMAGE RECOGNITION
Disclosed is a system and method for testing a structure mode of vibration based on digital image recognition, which comprises a camera, targets, a bridge, a vertical acceleration sensor and a lateral acceleration sensor; the camera is arranged near the bridge head of the bridge; the bridge is equipped with a plurality of targets equidistantly inside guardrails on both sides; and the vertical acceleration sensor and the lateral acceleration sensor are fixedly arranged on the camera. The present application avoids the arrangement of a large number of sensors and complicated wiring in the bridge vibration detection, saves time and reduces economic cost, is convenient to operate, has relatively high precision, and has broad application prospects.
Simultaneous multi-surface non-contact optical profiler
An optical test system and corresponding method disclosed herein provides highly accurate test data for both sides of a lens simultaneously and efficiently to analyze the surface topography and/or geometric parameters of a lens or lens system. More particularly, the optical test system and corresponding method moves the lens in test plane to align a plurality of points of a test pattern on a lens surface with a vertical axis while probes aligned with the vertical axis and on opposing sides of the lens simultaneously collect wavelength-specific data for both lens surfaces. The optical test system uses the collected wavelength-specific data to produce a surface topography and/or the associated lens geometric parameters for each lens surface.
STRUCTURED ILLUMINATION OPTICAL INSPECTION PLATFORM FOR TRANSPARENT MATERIALS
A method of imaging surface features with a large (non-microscopic) field-of-view includes projecting a structured illumination pattern onto the transparent target. The surface features modify the structured illumination pattern, and an image of the modified structured illumination pattern is imaged at each of multiple different introduced phase shifts via an imaging device. The method further provides for extracting, from each of the captured phase-shifted images, image components that correspond to frequencies exceeding a cutoff frequency of the imaging device; and using the extracted image components to construct a corrected image of the surface features of the transparent target. The corrected image has a resolution that is greater than a spatially incoherent point-to-point optical resolution of the imaging device.